The magazine pulled data from the U.S. Census Bureau and National Geographic Society's Green Guide, and ranked cities based on four categories: Electricity, Transportation, Green Living, and Recycling and Green Perspective.

The first two, at least, are pretty straightforward. Green Living counts the number of buildings in the city that have been certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. Recycling and Green Perspective takes into account the comprehensiveness of the city's recycling program and the importance of environmental issues to its citizens.

Portland, Oregon came out on top, scoring 23.1 out of a possible 30 points, thanks to renewable resources, the popularity of commuting by bike, and a large number of certified green buildings. San Francisco was a close second at 23.0, with high scores for Transportation (thanks, BART!) and Electricity. Boston, Oakland, Eugene, Cambridge, Berkeley, Chicago, Seattle, and Austin round out the top 10.

We New Yorkers come in at number 20--but we earned a perfect ten in Transportation, thanks to the 54 percent of our population who commute to work via the subway.

Brian Heater has worked at a number of tech pubs, including Engadget, Laptop, and PCMag (where he served as Senior Editor). Most recently, he was as the Managing Editor of TechTimes.com. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Lucy.
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